Time
by Hypatia Cade
Summary: What happen when an advanced Hermione discovers the secerets of time. HG?
1. Chapter 1

Time

Preface

What is time? Is it minutes and seconds or is it something more? An invisible substance that you can neither hear, taste, smell, or see. But that is only four senses and it is common knowledge that the average person has five. You _can_ feel time. You can feel as time passes. Time, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. For one person an hour may slowly trickle by giving the impression of eternity. For an entirely different person an hour may fly by and get lost in the blink of an eye. And where does time go once it passes? Is it gone never to be reached or does it go to a place where it might sometime, some how be grasped? And if so could a person that had the knowledge where time lay be able to affect and change the future? Maybe even their future?

Chapter 1

The now eighteen year old, Hermione Granger, walked swiftly up the stairs toward the Great Hall. She had graduated from Hogwarts two years ago on a special honors diploma that Dumbledore had set up for her. She stayed at school to give the impression that she was still a student. In fact in a way she was. She still went to all her classes, but the teachers didn't give her regular work. No in a way she was an apprentice to every teacher in which she had a class. Except for one. She was not an apprentice to the resident Potions Master, one Severus Snape.

Not that it was a problem. In fact it was quite the opposite. She had already studied under Severus and had earned the title Potions Master. Not that anyone knew the fact beside the teachers and the Headmaster. Oh and of course her best friends Ron and Harry knew. They were in their seventh and last year at Hogwarts, and were another reason she was happy to keep up the charade that she was a student. As long as she was at Hogwarts she could stay with them. Plus staying at Hogwarts had been one of the conditions for Dumbledore to put her on an early graduation schedule.

Snape, or Severus as she had started to call him now that she was not his student, had been allowing her to use his own personal potions lab. She spent most of her free time there trying to figure out the thing that confused her most. Time. It was a strange thing. But she had just figured it out. It was so simple. So clear.

And now she was on her way to the Great Hall to interrupt Severus' lunch and to rub it in his face. As she reached the Great Hall she threw open the doors, ignoring the gazes of people who had turned to see who entered. She waved at Harry and Ron, then made her way up to the teacher's table.

She went around the table so she could stand behind Severus. She reached over his shoulder and grabbed a sandwich off the plate in front of him. Severus turned to face her mock glaring, "Miss Granger I wish you would refrain touching my food." He looked her up and down. "And you really should wash your hands between working in the lab and eating."

"To big of a hurry." Hermione said in between bites. "Besides I don't think anything would happen to me."

"What are you rushing about in the first place? What is so important?"

"Oh I came here to tell you I figured it out!" she said eyes sparkling with excitement. Snape just looked awe struck.

"How…"

But he never got to finish his question because Hermione started to fade before him. Then disappeared all together. "Where did she go?" Severus asked into the silence of the confused room not really expecting an answer.

"The right question, Severus, would be when?" Dumbledore answered.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay so I know that I haven't written anything in a while but I'm trying to put some more stuff out. Okay the first work of my hopefully long burst inspiration. Hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**

Time

Chapter 2

Hermione continued to talk not realizing, at first, that she was in a whole new place. Severus, who sat with his back against a tree, appeared to be asleep. He looked younger, more relaxed. His robe and vest were thrown over low hanging branches and the sleeves of his white oxford shirt were rolled up to the elbow. The buttons on the top of his shirt were undone and his tie hung loose about his neck. It left his neck bare and made Hermione realize that he was more tan. He had stubble on his chin and his nose looked much straighter. His face was upturned and his hair hung back from his face. Hermione couldn't remember a time she had seen Severus without hair hanging in his face. Her eyes flicked back to the tie at his neck. Green and Silver. He wore the tie of a student in his house.

Hermione's mind reeled as she realized she wasn't in her time. Hermione made to move away, realizing how her presence could affect the future. But her escape was ruined when a rather loud twig snapped under her foot and woke Severus. His eyes flew open and his hand flew to her wrist. The strength of his grasp surprised her. It was a strength she never knew he possessed.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"I'm…I'm not in your year. Or your house." Hermione said footing around the answer he wanted.

"You are wearing a Head Girl's Badge. Lily Evans is the Head Girl this year." He pointed out the obvious, which only served to make me mad. "Who are you?" He asked again after I didn't respond.

"My name is…Alexandra Seine." The name of her childhood friend was the only that would come to her mind.

"Well Alexandra, I think your story doesn't add up." He pulled her closer to him. "I think your in a place where your not supposed to be and I want to know what your doing here."

"Well I don't care what you think or want, Severus Snape. I'm here to see the headmaster." Her wand was at his throat. "Let. Me. Go." Her hand slipped from his grip. But the look on his reminded her of Severus in her first years at school, before the defeat of the dark lord. And maybe it was out of habit, or built-in respect but a whispered, 'sorry sir' was heard as she walked away.

She walked the path to Dumbledore's office in silence. The echoes of her footsteps were the only sound in the hall. She jumped when Severus appeared beside her and a squeak of fear emitted from her throat. He looked as surprised as she did but soon his laughter rang throughout the halls. If Hermione had been surprised before she was double that now. Although she and Severus had built a kind of friendship in the future and they had verbal volleys back and forth daily; she had _never_ heard him laugh. It was a strange throaty nose that was pleasant and put a curve to her lips.

"What are you doing here Severus?" She asked with a sigh.

"I'm going to take you to Dumbledore's office. I naively thought that if I hadn't seen you here you must have never been here. But obviously you know a lot more than I previously thought. How do you know my name?"

"It's entirely to long of a story and nothing seems safe to say. I need to speak to Dumbledore. I need to speak to him now." Dumbledore came out from behind a statue of Merlin and into view.

"Well then talk we will then my dear." Follow me up to my office. "Pumpkin Juice" The gargoyle stepped out of the way and the staircase appeared and I followed Dumbledore onto it.

When Severus tried to get on I stopped him. "I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore in _private_." Dumbledore and me rode the stairs to the top and into his office. He took a seat behind his immense desk and I took a seat in a big leather chair across from him. "Well Professor, my name is Hermione Granger and I'm from the future."


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N: Okay so I know I hardly ever get in the mood to write but I have a surprise for you. I wrote another chappie! Yay! Okay so I also just got finished rewritting the 1st Chapter of ****Head Games ****but it didn't send out an alert because I **_**replaced**_** a chappie and that isn't enough for an alert, I guess. Also I'm stuck on ****The Forgotten ****and I need some help to figure out how I'm going to go on with it...sooo...any help would be great! Yeah so here we go!**

**Disclaimer: I **_**don't**_** own Harry Potter. So yeah, sucks to be me. **

Time

Chapter 3

"The future you say?" Dumbledore asked a twinkle in his eye and his hands folded in front of him. "Do tell."

"Well I am an apprentice to Severus," She looked up at Dumbledore to see if he noticed her slip of tongue. "I mean the Potion's Professor of Hogwarts in my time. I was working on creating a time traveling potion..." She remembered her conversation with the Severus of her time.

_"Miss Granger I wish you would refrain touching my food." He looked her up and down. "And you really should wash your hands between working in the lab and eating." _

_"To big of a hurry." Hermione said in between bites. "Besides I don't think anything would happen to me."_

Now she wished she had slowed down earlier and followed Severus' ever strict potion protocol. _Rule #3: Always wash you hands after handling potion ingredients or working with a potion. Even the smallest trace of a substance can effect you_. But she was in such a hurry. She was so excited to get up to the great hall and tell Severus about the potion. She was so sure she had figured it out this time. And if the results not were anything to go on she was exactly right.

Dumbledore was staring at her intently. "I guess my potion worked judging from my current position."

"Yes, well, congratulations are in order." Hermione raised an eyebrow. Dumbledore notice this and laughed. "Despite your unfortunate circumstances that's quite an achievement, especially for someone so young." Hermione blushed at his complement. Despite knowing Dumbledore for the seven years she was never as close to him as Harry was so she was never in the position to receive many complements from him.

Hermione smiled, "Well take my 'achievement' and add in a forgotten cleansing charm and I'm right back to being a silly little girl who made a big mistake." Her smile turned bashful. "I was in such a hurry to tell Sev..I mean the potions professor about the potion that I forgot to clean my hands. Then my ravenous appetite from working in a lab took hold...well I sure you see my folly."

He rubbed him beard thoughtfully, "I don't see what can be done at the moment." He held out a bowl of lemon drops and she politely took one. "But in the mean time it is important that you understand the disastrous affect you presence here can have on the future that you know."

"I know Professor. I've told Severus Snape that my name was Alexandra Seine, I was hoping it would keep people from connecting me to my future self."

"Excellent idea! Please make sure you do not discuss or more importantly let anything slip about the future to anyone. Myself included. I know this puts you in a hard position because there is always something about the past that a person would like to change, but even the smallest change to the time line can effect the future greatly." She nodded. "Well then I propose that pose as a student why we try to figure out a way to get you back to your own time."

"That shouldn't be too hard since in my own time I was pretending to be a student too." Dumbledore's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Well you see Professor you offered me an opportunity to graduate early on the condition that I would stay in the castle for my seventh year. I became an apprentice while I waited for my classmates to graduate, but nobody knew about my early graduation because the ministry would have not allowed it. So I had to go to all my classes and pretend to be a normal student."

"You must be a very intelligent witch indeed." _Two complements in one day_, Hermione blushed with pleasure.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Now about you living arrangements?"

"Oh I was in Gryffindor." She pulled at the badge on her robes.

"So we will put you back in your old house. We will say you transferred from the Boston Witch Academy in America. Now about how to get you back..." He rubbed his chin lightly. "I'm not much at potions." Hermione raised her eyebrows and and the look on her face clearly stated 'yeah right'. The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched a bit but he gave no notice to her expression. "But we do have a potions prodigy her at Hogwarts and I'm sure he would be delighted to help you."

Hermione frowned a bit, "I thought you said that nobody was supposed to know of my position?"

Dumbledore waved his wand and the door to his office flung open and a student fell in. He had obviously been listening with his ear pressed against the door. Hermione sighed, _'Once a spy, always a spy_'. "It seems that this student already knows about your position." Dumbledore answered with a smile as Severus Snape stood up and straightened his robes. "So Mr. Snape are you willing?"

Severus stood for a second and considered the offer. He wouldn't really be getting anything from the long hours of work he would have to put in to figure out a potion of this caliber. His gaze returned to Hermione. This could get interesting though. "Yes," He said simply.

"Wonderful!" Dumbledore clapped his hands together. I will have supplies and robes sent up to Gryffindor tower for you and I will inform the Head Girl, Lily Evans, to show you up and give you the password. Remember you are supposed to be a transfer student, you haven't been here before and you don't know your way around." He looked up at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "Dinner starts in ten minutes. Mr. Snape will you please show Miss Seine to the Great Hall?" Severus bowed his head in acceptance. "Good I will have Miss Evans find you after dinner." He got up and Hermione stood. He showed them to the door and as they were going down the stairs Dumbledore called to her. "Remember Miss Granger you are Miss Seine. Remember to be careful of what you saw and what you reveal."

"I will Headmaster. Good-bye." She went the rest of the way down the stairs where Severus was waiting for her at the bottom. They walked in silence all the way to the Great Hall were the separated with not so much as a good-bye. She took a seat at the Gryffindor and ignored the confused looks of others. Dinner arrived and she ate in silence, feeling alone in this foreign time. She felt eyes on her and turned to scan the room. At the Sytherin table Severus was staring at her intently. Their eyes met and he nodded at her before he continued to eat. Hermione turned around realizing how different this Severus was from her Severus. '_Her Severus? Right._' She thought with bitter sarcasm.

At the end of dinner, as promised, Lily Evans found her and introduced herself. "Hello!" She said brightly. "My name is Lily Evans, I'm Head Girl. The Headmaster asked me to show you up to Gryffindor tower." Hermione stood and followed the girl. She was as pretty as the pictures Harry had showed her. Her eyes. She had Harry's eyes. It was like instant comfort for missing her friend. "It will be nice to finally have another girl in the dorm. By some strange luck of the draw I ended up the only female Gryffindor in my year. It will be nice to have some _female_ company." They walked up Gryffindor tower chatting about classes and teachers.

"I haven't got my schedule yet." Hermione said conversationally. "I'm sure the Headmaster will give it to me tomorrow."

Lily laughed a little. "Or maybe he'll wait till Monday. What use will a schedule be on a Saturday."

Hermione blushed a little and made a hurried excuse. "With all this stress from moving I guess I've lost track of my days." In fact she hadn't given any thought at all to what day it might be in this time. It had been a Sunday when she left her time. She was so lost in thought she didn't hear Lily talking.

"...very simple. All you have to do is say the password. Go ahead, it's very easy." They stood in front of the portrait of the fat lady. Once again Hermione felt herself going red.

"I'm sorry what was the password?"

"Oh" She grabbed Hermione and pulled her back a couple of yards. "So the fat lady doesn't open to the password." She explained at Hermione's confused look. "It's Godric." They walked back toward the portrait and as Hermione said the password the fat lady curtsied and the portrait swung open. They went inside and the common room was just has it had always been. "This stairway," she said pointing to the one on the left, "Leads to the girl's dormitory. The other one to the..." She was interrupted as a loud blast sounded from beside her.

The Marauders were laughing hysterically at a boy who was now covered in ash. "I'm sorry mate." Although she had never seen him before she knew immediately as James Potter. "I'm really sorry mate." Sirius said clapping James on the back and performing a vanishing charm on the ash. Lily sighed loudly and the boys all looked over.

"James Potter and Sirius Black! I've told you before about experimenting in the Common Room. Another episode like this one and I'll be forced to report you to McGonagall." James looked chastised and his shoulders dropped a little. James looked just like Harry except for the eyes and he might have been a little bit taller. Sirius looked nothing like the one she remembered. He was young and much to her surprise quite handsome. Its amazing how much his time spent in wizarding prison took away his youth.

"Lily," Sirius said in a smooth voice. "Why we would never experiment in the Common Room! Thanks to you," He said leading her to a chair. "We know that is against the rules. A fact you have told us many times." He smiled slyly in James' direction as she took her seat. James went into action walking up behind the chair and placed his hands on her shoulder and began to message lightly.

"Sirius is quite right, Lily." He said as she relaxed into his touch. "We were just trying to teach Peter that feather light charm we learned today. He can't seem to get the hang of it. That was just a spell gone awry." He smiled deviously at Sirius from behind Lily.

"Yes," Sirius said, "Isn't that right Peter?" He looked over his shoulder and looked at Peter all the while James was nodding his head vigorously.

"Ummm...Yeah...Practicing my...ahhh charms?" He said nervously.

"See there you have it irrefutable proof that we have been being perfect angels!" Sirius said looking smug. Hermione laughed and the group looked towards her and Lily jumped.

"Oh Alexandra! I'm so sorry. I must have made the poorest example of our school." She stood up quickly and made to walk away but Sirius stopped her.

"Lily?" He said sweetly. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend." Lily looked reluctant then sighed.

"Alexandra this is Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter." She said pointing to each boy in turn. "Boys this is Alexandra Seine she transferred her from the Boston Witch Academy in America."

"An American?" Sirius asked with interest.

"No. I was born in London. My parents moved to Boston for their jobs."

"Well," Said Sirius taking her arm and trying to lead her to the couch by the fire. "Lets just get to know each other a..."

"Sorry Sirius!" Lily said with a smile and grabbed Hermione's other arm. "But we were just going to go up to our dorm and get Alexandra unpacked."

Sirius smile turned into a pout and he released her arm but not before he place a kiss on the back of her hand. "Another time?"

Hermione could help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, was hitting on her. "Maybe. Maybe not." She wrinkled her nose a bit. "I'm allergic to dogs." She waved then walked quickly up the stairs Lily following in her wake. The boys all exchanged looks.

It was Remus who spoke first. "I'm sure she was just referring to you reputation." He said quietly.

James and Sirius both exchanged looks. "I hope so." Said Sirius with a sigh. "But there was something in her eyes. Like she knew." He threw himself back on the couch. And slowly a smirk appeared on his face.

James, who took the seat beside him, saw this and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I have a new challenge."

"And what's that?" Remus asked in apprehension.

"To get a little closer to our gorgeous new transfer student." He said with a deep chuckle as Remus and James shared looks of doubt.

**A.N: Please, please review. I want to know what you guys think about how I'm doing and any suggestion would be fantastic. I hope to get another chapter of Head Games up in the next couple of days, so there **_**is**_** something to look forward too. I'm going to try to write more. But you know how things can get busy. **

**Well I love you reader whole bunches!!!!**

**XOXOXO**

**Patia**


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